News and Events
The online version of “The Coming Bay Area Earthquake, 2010 Update of Scenario for a Magnitude 7.0 Earthquake on the Hayward Fault” (PDF file, 3.5 MB) is now available. In the 2010 update, the significant points from the 1996 report are summarized and then updated information is provided. Where possible, original chapter authors were interviewed and many assisted in updating their contributions.
It is time to vote for new EERI NC Board Members! Thank you in advance for casting your vote in this election.
Download the CANDIDATE BIOGRAPHIES & STATEMENTS (pdf file 125 KB)
The 2011 election came to an end on Tuesday October 18th. Seventy-four chapter members completed their online ballots to elect a President-Elect, a Secretary-Treasurer, and 3 Directors at Large.
The Board of the EERI NC Chapter has just approved and posted the 2011 Year End Report. View the 2011 Report.
The EERI NC Chapter is happy to announce the launch of the Adopt-a-City Program for the City of Albany. The initiative’s goal is to improve understanding of the risk, vulnerability and impacts of a future earthquake for cities along the Hayward Fault, and to empower stakeholders within those cities to take action to mitigate their earthquake risk. We will start in 2012 by focusing on the city of Albany.
Please join in this hands-on, volunteer activity to help make Bay Area communities safer. Our first planning meeting for this program will be on February 7, 2012 at noon. If you would like to participate, please contact Heidi Faison at
Our first activity will be to make a comprehensive inventory of the buildings in the city, in partnership with Albany city officials. This inventory will identify the building types in Albany that may be vulnerable to damage in earthquakes.
On February 7, we will begin planning for the entire program and form a committee to start detailed planning for the building inventory effort. We plan to discuss the ways we expect to use this inventory, identify the information that needs to be collected, review data collection forms used in other inventory efforts, and explore using prepopulated databases and mobile devices (e.g., ipads or smartphone) to assist in the inventory collection.
If you cannot join us on February 7, there will be many future ways you can participate:
- Review and provide feedback about the draft inventory procedures and forms developed by the committee above.
- Help pre-populate the inventory database with information from online sources such as Google Earth and Albany’s assessors data. This pre-population of information will be later verified and enhanced by participants who join in an inventory field day.
- Join a committee to coordinate the logistics for a field day in Albany where volunteers will complete a thorough inventory using the forms and pre-populated database developed above.
- Volunteer for a one-day walking inventory field activity throughout the City of Albany - likely to take place in summer 2012.
- Work on defining specific seismic hazard information for Albany.
- Participate in customized HAZUS runs for Albany, using the seismic hazard and inventory information described above.
- Join a working group that will write and present a summarizing report to City stakeholders about the inventory results, hazard data, etc.
For more information about the Adopt-a-City program, visit the EERI NC Site: Adopt-a-City Program
This year's Chapter Awards for "Leadership, Innovation, and Outstanding Accomplishments in Earthquake Risk Reduction" went to Laurence Kornfield and the East Bay Municipal Utilities District.
Laurence Kornfield (with guest of honor Julia) accepts the 2011 Chapter Award for "Leadership, Innovation, and Outstanding Accomplishments in Earthquake Risk Reduction" from Chapter President Janiele Maffei[/caption]
Laurence Kornfield has been a champion for seismic safety in the public administration of San Francisco for many years. As chief building official, he helped conceive of the Community Action Plan for Seismic Safety (CAPSS) and was instrumental in finding support and funding for the program. He worked for over a decade to make CAPSS a reality, helping the program overcome a temporary suspension, and bringing it to successful closure in December of 2010. He made sure a wide range of voices in the city contributed to CAPSS by creating a diverse panel of stakeholders that was actively involved in every step of the program. The recommendations from CAPSS provide a roadmap for how San Francisco should reduce earthquake risk, protect the city's way-of-life, and become a more resilient community.
Laurence is passionate about making earthquake risk reduction more accessible to regular people. Through CAPSS and other efforts, he has worked on innovative, simple, and affordable retrofit techniques. One example is his work to develop a system to brace garage doors to improve the house-over-garage buildings so prevalent in San Francisco. He also continually encourages companies and engineers to develop standardized and affordable retrofit methods. He made sure that CAPSS focused on the social, economic, and cultural consequences of future earthquakes in San Francisco, aspects that are meaningful and influential to city residents and policymakers but are often overlooked by engineers.
Laurence's leadership has provided the City and County of San Francisco with a roadmap to a more resilient city and significant political will to work towards this goal. CAPSS is already serving as a model for communities around the world, and hopefully successful implementation of its recommendations will soon follow.
Manager of Design David Pratt accepting the award on behalf of EBMUD[/caption]
Since 1994, the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) has been working diligently to reduce the risk of damage to the water system following a catastrophic seismic event, improving fire-fighting capabilities, and protecting customers from long, disruptive outages. To cost effectively upgrade their facilities, EBMUD has used the latest advances in seismic strengthening, adopting new technologies where possible. To date EBMUD has spent over $200 million on its Seismic Improvement Program.
To maintain public support for the Seismic Improvement Program, the District educates the public about seismic risks in the Bay Area through an extensive community outreach program. This program has also been used to develop a single message on how to store emergency water supplies, and has been successful through partnerships with other agencies and state and local Offices of Emergency Services.
EBMUD's leadership and outstanding improvements will assure that many of their 1.2 million customers will have access to clean water even after a large earthquake.
The annual Award for "Leadership, Innovation, and Outstanding Accomplishments in Earthquake Risk Reduction" acknowledge successful risk reduction efforts outside of the Chapter. Each year the Chapter gives two awards, to an individual and an institution, in recognition of their hard work and dedication towards the reduction of seismic risk in Northern California. The recipients represent best practice examples of putting the science and engineering of earthquakes to work and demonstrate valuable contributions to the various disciplines and pursuits represented in the Chapter. The Chapter presented its first awards in 2003. Recent recipients include BART's Earthquake Safety Program (2010), SPUR's Resilient City initiative (2009), City of Alameda building official Greg McFann (2010), and City of Oakland Mayor Jean Quan (2009).
Jeanne Perkins (left) receives the Life Time Achievements award from Chapter President Janielle Maffei[/caption]
At the February chapter meeting the Board of Directors presented a special award for "Life Time Achievements in Earthquake Risk Reduction" to Jeanne Perkins. Jeanne was also presented with a certificate of appreciation from the Association of Bay Area Governments and a proclamation from Oakland Mayor Jean Quan.
From 1975-2006, Jeanne served as the Earthquake and Hazards Program Manager and Principal Scientist for the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), conducting cutting edge research and managing innovative projects to help the Bay Area handle natural and man-made disasters. Since retiring from ABAG, Jeanne has continued her work in the field through her private consulting firm.
Jeanne Perkins receives a Certificate of Appreciation from ABAG[/caption]
Developed by Jeanne in 1995, ABAG is known by many for its comprehensive earthquake and hazards website http://quake.abag.ca.gov which disseminates understandable scientific information about natural hazards to the public and links the information with actions that local governments and residents can take to reduce their risk from these hazards. Two of the liquefaction and shaking hazard maps were developed under Jeanne’s leadership. Over the years Jeanne has produced many landmark reports and her estimates of uninhabitable housing units, displaced people and road closures in the Bay Area are cited often by earthquake professionals. For over 40 years Jeanne has brought immense passion and energy to ensuring that the Bay Area will be able to withstand an earthquake or natural disaster and her efforts will have a lasting impact on the Bay Area.
Career Highlights
- Earthquake and Hazards Program Manager and Principal Scientist from 1975-2006, conducting cutting edge research and managing innovative projects to help the Bay Area handle natural and man-made disasters
- Coordinating the development of a multi-jurisdictional Local Hazard Mitigation Plan for the San Francisco Bay Area, Taming Natural Disasters which was developed with 116 local jurisdictions throughout the region.
- Developing shaking and liquefaction hazard maps for the San Francisco Bay Area
- Estimating damaged and destroyed housing units in future Bay Area earthquakes and ideas to mitigate those losses in the report Shaken Awake!
- Conducting Studies examining the liability of both local governments and private industries for earthquake hazards and losses
- Estimating earthquake shaking, liquefaction and landslide impacts on the region's transportation system, including airports, and ways to improve the recovery of that system in the reports Riding Out Future Quakes and Don’t Wing It
- Spear-heading ABAG’s disaster recovery planning initiative
- Leading the region to identify and advocate for the retrofit of soft-story residential buildings
- Developing ABAG’s popular website quake.abag.ca.gov in 1995 which remains a leader in disseminating understandable scientific information about natural hazards to the public and linking the information with actions that local governments and residents can take to reduce their risk from these hazards.
A summary video for the 2010 update of the Hayward Fault Scenario has now been posted on EERI's YouTube Channel.
It is time to vote for new EERI NC Board Members! Thank you in advance for casting your vote in this election.
Download the CANDIDATE BIOGRAPHIES & STATEMENTS (pdf file 70 KB)
The 2012 election came to an end on Tuesday October 16th. Sixty-two chapter members completed their online ballots to elect three Directors at Large.
This year's Chapter Awards for "Leadership, Innovation, and Outstanding Accomplishments in Earthquake Risk Reduction" went to Susan Garcia and the University of California at Berkeley.
Bay Area Earthquake Alliance Co-Chair Jack Boatwright accepts the 2012 Chapter Award for "Leadership, Innovation, and Outstanding Accomplishments in Earthquake Risk Reduction" on behalf of Susan Garcia from Chapter President Heidi Tremayne[/caption]
Susan Garcia was nominated for her enthusiasm, dedication and tireless public service through public outreach related to earthquake safety, and for her role in helping organize and promote the innovative Bay Area Earthquake Alliance.
The University of California, Berkeley was nominated for its innovative and sustained efforts to improve earthquake safety and resilience through its Seismic Action Plan for Facilities Enhancement and Renewal (SAFER) and its Disaster Resistant University program. These efforts initially were led by former Chancellor Robert Berdahl, Vice Provost Nicholas Jewell, Professor Mary Comerio, and implemented by Sarah Nathe of the Chancellor's Office, the Seismic Review Committee and Vice Chancellor Edward Denton, Capital, Facilities Services with technical guidance from consultant Craig Comartin. The University has set a standard for innovation and exemplary achievement in earthquake risk reduction.
Associate Vice Chancellor Rob Gayle accepting the award on behalf of UC Berkeley (shown with Mary Comerio, Craig Comartin, Tom Tobriner, Jack Moehle, and Nic Sitar)[/caption]
This year's Awards Nominating Committee consisted of Tom Tobin (Chair), Mary Lou Zoback, and David Bonowitz.
The annual Award for "Leadership, Innovation, and Outstanding Accomplishments in Earthquake Risk Reduction" acknowledge successful risk reduction efforts outside of the Chapter. Each year the Chapter gives two awards, to an individual and an institution, in recognition of their hard work and dedication towards the reduction of seismic risk in Northern California. The recipients represent best practice examples of putting the science and engineering of earthquakes to work and demonstrate valuable contributions to the various disciplines and pursuits represented in the Chapter. The Chapter presented its first awards in 2003. Recent recipients include the EBMUD's Seismic Improvement Program (2011), BART's Earthquake Safety Program (2010), SPUR's Resilient City Initiative (2009), the City of San Francisco's Laurence Kornfield (2011), City of Alameda Building Official Greg McFann (2010), and City of Oakland Mayor Jean Quan (2009).
PEER and the EERI Northern California Chapter jointly hosted the EERI distinguished lecture "The New Normal for Natural Disasters" by Professor Tom O'Rourke from Cornell University on December 6, 2012 at UC Berkeley. This lecture discussed the effects of the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami, Canterbury Earthquake Sequence, and Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy with respect to their impact on regional and international economics, national practices for security and recovery, and worldwide energy policy. The recording is now posted at PEER's YouTube channel with the intermittent audio static from the live webcast removed.
